Pundit Country

The Internet is abuzz today with people wondering about the giant George W. Bush billboard hovering over I-35 near Wyoming, Minn. The billboard features a smiling picture of the former prez with the caption “Miss Me Yet?”

From where did this strange advertisement spring, and what is its intended purpose?

Asylum spoke to the advertising agency behind the advertisement, and though they preferred not to be named, they did tell us that the sign was rented by a group of small businessmen from the twin cities area, who pooled their money to make the political statement.

Why? The businessmen say they invested in the billboard because they “thought Washington was against them.” The billboard has been up for a month and drivers can look forward to enjoying the billboard for at least another month that is already paid up.

The billboard had spurred discussion this week, with some convinced it was a PhotoShop hoax, but its existence was verified by reporter Bob Collins at Minnesota Public Radio, who has been trying to track down the people behind it ever since.

The renters wish to remain anonymous for now, but they say they have been “overwhelmed by the response” and are considering renting more billboards. Suggestions?

As you may or may not heard by now, former VP candidate and Alaska Governor Sarah Palin is in Washington State this weekend visiting family during the Thanksgiving break.

During that break, it was announced that she would participate in a 5k run in Kennewick. However, Palin ditched the ending of the race to avoid the gathering crowd (a rather odd move considering she’s been traveling around the country promoting her new book Going Rogue).

Now while I understand that most national figures back out of committments from time to time, someone who, like Palin, has garnered a much-deserved reputation for bailing on events, this was just an idiotic move. If she had no intention of finishing the race, or was just using the start of the race as a photo-op, then why not have people in place before the start of the event saying exactly that to the press, so they don’t take off on a story they clearly seem to enjoy telling.

It is exactly this level of amateurish handling of her media events that have reinforced the impression among the public that this is someone who is clearly not ready for prime time, let alone ready for any major public office. It’s a lesson you’d think she would have learned by now.

Related articles

• Palin to run in Red Cross Turkey Trot at Kennewick (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• Palin: It’s The Money, Stupid (alan.com)
• Video: Angry Mob of Palin Fans Shout Insults at Palin (firedoglake.com)
• What It Still Says About McCain (talkingpointsmemo.com)
• Why Sarah Palin is unlikely to be the future of the Republican Party. (slate.com)

[update 9/1]: Well, it looks as if I was wrong. Publicola published a story today (with a somewhat misleading headline) indicating that in July she was asked about R-71 in a Federal Way forum and she claims to support the measure, although they noted her response was predictably “nuanced” (their word). Her response is that while she thought the bill “had some exaggerations in it”, she generally believed in the cause of equality.

And if you find yourself asking what she meant by “exaggerations”, she didn’t specify (hint to Dow’s campaign: make her).

Also worth noting is that unlike Constantine, it was her campaign who responded to the question rather than the candidate herself. I’m guessing she doesn’t want to be on the record supporting a measure that her financial backers will be spending a great deal of money to try and defeat.

(original post from Aug. 31)

Now that Referendum 71, which calls for voters to affirm the “everything by marriage” law recently passed by the state legislature and signed into law by Gregiore, has made the November ballot, Publicola reporters asked around to all the relevant local candidates to see what their position was on the referendum. Constantine, who is touting his credentials as a progressive Democrat (although the race for KC Exec is officially non-partisan) said the following:

“While this is disappointing news, we must come together as a community and affirm an important law that speaks to our core values and is a long overdue step for equality.

“I remain confident that Washington State voters – and particularly the people of King County — will stand up for fairness by upholding the state’s domestic partnership bill. That bill recognizes the right of people in committed domestic partnerships to full legal protections—in effect, to the creation of full civil unions for gay and lesbian couples in Washington State.”

Front runner Susan Hutchison’s campaign has yet to respond to the request for a comment. Most likely because this puts her into a bit of a corner. Clearly a conservative Republican by her associations, affiliations, and previous statements, Hutchison needs to appeal to the largely Democratic voters of King County, most of whom, it is believed support the measure of granting full rights to same-sex couples. However, she also clearly doesn’t want to alienate her conservative donors, some of whom fought vigorously to get this on the ballot in the first place.

My prediction? If she responds at all (which I doubt, unless pressed by the media, bloggers or the Constantine campaign), it will be in the vaguest language possible in an attempt to keep people guessing about her position. Remember this is the whole strategy here; allow people to place their values upon her with her campaign revealing as little as possible about her views on any actual issues. The public cannot let let her get away with that.

Related articles

• Domestic partnerships: Will religious right rise? (seattlepi.com)
• Anti-gay rights ref. signature check tops 100k (seattlepi.com)

As he election results from earlier this week continue to turn in, an interesting pattern has begun to show. While those who voted in the KC Executive race early tended to vote for Hutchison over Constantine, later voters went the other direction siding more with the self-identified progressive Democrat over the crypto-Republican.

The initial election night gap, reported to be 37%-22% has been closing steadily since election day with Constantine gaining steadily on his now-sole opponent. The split now stands at 33%-26%. Publicoa writes that the support of the SEIU late in the race helped push those last minute numbers up.

While I’m sure Hutchison is the candidate the Constantine camp wanted to run against this November, I think it represents a bad move by those Dems who pushed her this far along. Now we have an anti-intellectual empty shirt elevated to the status of frontrunner who got that way by saying virtually nothing about the issues, letting voters pin their own concerns and hopes onto her, without any evidence she supports the issues they may want strongly advocated.

Add to the mix the possibility that R-71 will be on the ballot and you have good reason to start planning for a big conservative push to get the right-wingers to the polls. Goldy at HorsesAss made the same observation just yesterday, adding the conservatives are expected to raise money heavily for Hutchison, touting her as the Dino Rossi of the King County circuit (although to his credit, at least Rossi had actual experience in policy and governmental matters, so I don’t see how the comparison works out exactly). While I suspect R-71 will also pull the LGBT and allied community to the polls in droves, hoping for the same sort of passion the community felt after the passage of California’s Proposition 8 to drive passage of the referendum, essentially ratifying the state legislature’s decision to grant equal rights to same-sex couples in committed relationships, this doesn’t mean that Constantine’s camp should rely solely on Hutchison to make a fool of herself.

Yes, once she is forced to talk about policy issues she clearly has no grasp of, ala Sarah Palin, it’ll be a nice field day for what little political media is left in the area, but they really need to bring the fight to her. It will be incumbent on Dow making the case that Hutchison simply lacks the qualifications for office and is she is simply an open opportunity for conservative interests to get one of their own in office so that they can run their own agenda right over the voters of King.

Related articles

• Referendum-71 Status and a few thoughts (washblog.com)
• Up next: ‘Knock down, drag out fight’ over domestic partner law (seattlepi.com)
• Susan Hutchison: No Answers, Lots of Questions (seattleweekly.com)
• Key labor union backs Constantine in King Co. exec race (seattlepi.com)
• Documents: GOP approached Hutchison to run for mayor (seattlepi.com)

For the record, I really didn’t intend for today to be an almost -exclusive “Hutchison-is-a-crappy-candidate” day here at Pundit Country. Buy hey, when you hit a roll, ya just gotta go with it.

Now the (very) right-leaning Seattle Times offers their thoughts on her candidacy and while measured, it’s not good news. In short, the author, Joni Balter, also notes Hutchison’s lack of respect for the voters and the press in the which she evades too many substantive questions and issues that are facing the voters of King County.

This is quickly becoming the personal meme for Hutchison and her team would be careful not to ignore it. If my suspicions are correct and it becomes a race between her and Constantine, you can be sure his team is going to take every advantage of her unwillingness to appear in public outside of controlled public events.

Balter’s chief critique?

County government is a complicated, rough-and-tumble workplace. The council is full of seasoned, adroit politicians. Few executives succeed if they don’t know how to navigate in a straightforward manner.

Hutchison will surely make it through the primary, even though there are two more-experienced and qualified people for executive, Jarrett and state Rep. Ross Hunter.

In the weeks leading up to the general election, Hutchison should tell us much more about herself and why she would be a good executive. The cat-and-mouse routine makes her seem at best like she is hiding something, at worst, that she’s inauthentic.

Related articles

• Seattle Times endorses Jarrett, Hunter in exec’s race (seattlepi.com)
• Judge to rule Friday on Hutchison lawsuit records (seattlepi.com)
• Documents: GOP approached Hutchison to run for mayor (seattlepi.com)